The SICMF hosts some of the world’s top musicians in Stellenbosch each year – no wonder that many of them are asked to return time and time again. This year’s returning musicians include Alissa Margulis, Andrej Bielow, Madeline Adkins, Suzanne Martens and Farida Bacharova (violin); Xandi van Dijk (conductor & viola); Juan-Miguel Hernandez and Gareth Lubbe (viola); Alexander Buzlov, David Cohen and Peter Martens (cello); Uxìa Martìnez Botana (double bass); Demarre McGill (flute); Dwight Parry (oboe); Ferdinand Steiner (clarinet); Andrew Brady (bassoon); Marco Silva (trumpet); Pamela Kierman (French horn); Weston Sprott (trombone) and Nina Schumann, Luis Magalhães and Pieter Grobler (piano).
Amongst them they represent the U.S.A., Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Austria, Holland, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, England, Canada and South Africa.
In addition, there are also three newcomers on this year’s SICMF faculty adding to the ever-growing list of internationally acclaimed artists visiting South Africa.
Pedro Carneiro is both a conductor and percussionist extraordinaire who hails from Portugal. He performs and records with orchestras around the globe, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, São Paulo State Symphony, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Leipzig Radio Symphony, to name a few and has performed world premières of over 100 works including having commissioned, performed and recorded over a dozen new quintets for marimba and string quartet with the Tokyo, New Zealand and Chilingirian string quartets.
Geoffrey Pilkington from the U.S.A. is this year’s SICMF international artist on French Horn. An accomplished recitalist, Geoffrey has been awarded grand prizes at the International Horn Competition of America, the Florida Orchestra Concerto Competition and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Additionally, he has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and as guest Principal Horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Russian violinist, Marc Bouchkov gave his Wigmore Hall debut in 2016 where he was awarded with the London Music Masters award. Marc has performed in Carnegie Hall, ConcertgebouwAmsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gasteig Munich, KKL Luzern, Konzerthaus Berlin and the Tchaikovsky Hall Moscow and has performed with orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich with Lionel Bringuier, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Mariss Jansons, the HR Sinfonieorchester in Frankfurt with Christoph Eschenbach, the NDR-Sinfonieorchester Hamburg and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.
